Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

After everyone heard this, they breathed a sigh of relief.

They were also a little worried that they would be distrusted and tortured when they returned.

At around 2:50, Colonel Noda finally brought his men to Niutou Mountain.

Li Yunlong and his men were already on guard, and all the nearby soldiers had their guns loaded, ready to shoot immediately if the Japanese made any unfavorable moves.

Zhao Gang, along with Chief of Staff Zhong and his men, also came to the foot of the mountain and met the other side.

"I'm Zhao Gang, the political commissar of the New 1st Regiment, and the person in charge of this prisoner exchange." Zhao Gang stated his identity as soon as he came up.

"Ichiro Noda, please stop being polite and get straight to the point. I have brought the people and supplies you want, but where are our people?!" Colonel Noda also responded. He wanted to finish the mission quickly. He felt it would be dangerous to stay here for one more minute.

"Don't worry, we have brought the people with us." Zhao Gang glanced at Chief of Staff Zhong, who tactfully turned around and left, walking towards the back of the mountain. After a while, he came over with the Japanese pilots.

During this period, Zhao Gang also looked at the comrades brought over by the Japanese. They were all thin and many of them were wrapped in bandages. This made him frown. Sure enough, as expected, these Japanese did not give them any preferential treatment after capturing their people.

But after all, his condition is still pretty good. He can still stand and his injuries are not serious.

"Let me check the supplies first." Zhao Gang said.

"No problem." Colonel Noda waved his hand, and the soldiers under his command carried the supplies up and piled them on the open space.

"These are what you want, just order them," said Colonel Noda.

Zhao Gang ignored the other party and called a clerk to count the supplies together, especially focusing on the medicines to make sure that the Japanese did not give less.

Next came the food. After making sure that the quantities of food matched, Zhao Gang directly asked people to randomly draw out dozens of bags of food and took out a portion of food from each bag.

"Bring a pot over." Zhao Gang immediately gave the order and asked someone to start making a fire and cooking.

"Mr. Zhao, what are you doing? I'm not here to watch you make fire and cook!" Colonel Noda came to Zhao Gang and said.

"There's no other way. I have to be cautious. After all, it's something we eat. What if you poison it?!" Zhao Gang said it directly without any reservation.

In order to avoid being poisoned later, he took the lead in taking some food to cook. While speaking, he was also staring at Colonel Noda's reaction.

"Hmph! We are not that shameless!" Colonel Noda said disdainfully. In fact, he was a little panicked in his heart, thinking that the higher-ups should not have ordered anyone to poison the food.

If anything goes wrong with the food, they might not be able to leave here.

"That's hard to say. Please wait for half an hour, Colonel Noda." After Zhao Gang finished speaking, he turned around and returned to the team.

Colonel Noda had no choice but to return to the team and quietly watched the Eighth Route Army soldiers busying themselves.

"Political Commissar, I just saw that the Japanese soldiers seemed a little panicked. I think they might have poisoned the food." Chief of Staff Zhong said to Zhao Gang.

If there was no poison, Colonel Noda should have been very calm, but he saw that the other party seemed a little panicked. This means two problems. One is that the other party didn't know whether someone had poisoned it, so he was very panicked.

Another possibility is that the other party really poisoned the food and only panicked when he saw Zhao Gang's actions.

"Not necessarily. Maybe the other party doesn't know what the situation is." Zhao Gang shook his head. He didn't think it would necessarily be like this.

"However, we should be more cautious." Zhao Gang added, then stood up, went to the bushes where Colonel Noda could not see him, took out the walkie-talkie and started to contact Li Yunlong.

"Old Zhao, what's going on? Are the Japanese trying to do something tricky?!" Li Yunlong asked.

"Not sure, but I feel it's possible. Everyone get ready for battle," Zhao Gang responded.

"Okay, I'll let them prepare for battle right away." After hearing this, Li Yunlong decisively chose to give the order.

After Zhao Gang finished the call, he returned to Chief of Staff Zhong.

Colonel Noda could only wait quietly. He only hoped that his superiors would not poison the food, otherwise he would definitely die.

As soon as he stepped into the mountainous area, he saw that there were Eighth Route Army soldiers lying in ambush on the nearby peaks, and the firepower seemed to be very fierce. From their current position, if they were attacked, they would not be able to escape. No wonder the enemy chose to trade in this place.

"Colonel, these people are really going too far. They don't trust us at all. Is this how a deal is done?" The Japanese lieutenant colonel came to Colonel Noda and said. He also couldn't stand Zhao Gang's behavior.

"It's normal for the other side to be cautious." Colonel Noda responded. If it were him, he would probably do the same. What's more, the two sides are enemies, so he has to be even more cautious.

"Colonel, why don't we send someone to check if the pilot is okay?!" The Japanese lieutenant colonel suggested that since the enemy was checking whether there was any problem with their food, they could also send someone to check on the pilot's condition.

"Do we need to check this? Look at their faces, they are all greasy. It's obvious that they eat a lot of meat." Colonel Noda responded unhappily.

The Eighth Route Army did treat their prisoners well. It could be seen from their appearance that there was not a single scar on their bodies, and even their eyes were not dull. It was obvious that they were treated well, so this was not the case.

"It seems so." Upon hearing this, the Japanese lieutenant colonel also reacted and realized that in comparison, the Eighth Route Army prisoners on their side had suffered a lot of abuse.

"Let the telegraph operator send a telegram to the brigade commander and tell him that the transaction may take some time. The Eighth Route Army is checking whether there are any problems with our food, and it will most likely be given to the pilots." Colonel Noda gave the order.

"Hi!" The Japanese lieutenant colonel turned and left.

Those Eighth Route Army soldiers were also watching what Zhao Gang and his men were doing, and they basically understood what they were doing.

"This new group is pretty good. They know how to test whether the food is poisonous or not."

"Nonsense, the things given by the devil, if you don't test them, do you dare to give them to the soldiers?"

"True, but I'm a little curious about who they cook for."

"It must be for those Japanese pilots to eat. If there is any problem, it will be seen at the first time."

The Eighth Route Army soldiers were also talking about it.

.........

In Taiyuan, in the office, Itaheng Seishiro glanced at his watch from time to time.

It was past three o'clock and there was still no news. Could it be that the enemy really did not follow the rules of war and attacked them? !

"No, no, that shouldn't be possible." Itaheng Seishiro quickly shook his head and dismissed this terrible idea. Bang...

The office door was violently pushed open by Major General Yoshida, who walked in suddenly.

"Division Commander, there's news from Mr. Noda!" said Major General Yoshida.

"What happened?! Is the transaction completed?!" Itahene Seishiro stood up and asked.

"It's not done yet. Noda-kun said that the transaction may have to be postponed. The Eighth Route Army is checking whether there are any problems with their food. They may let the pilots eat it." Major General Yoshida said as he handed the telegram to Itakune Seishirō.

"Sure enough, I said the enemy wouldn't be so stupid. They would definitely send people to check if there is any problem with the food. Fortunately, I didn't agree with you to poison the food, otherwise, no soldier who entered Ox Bone Mountain would come out alive." Itahira Seishirō felt a little fortunate.

Fortunately, he did not agree, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

"The division commander is right." Major General Yoshida also quickly admitted his mistake.

"You continue to keep an eye on it and report any situation immediately!" Itaheng Seishiro waved his hand!

"Hi!" Major General Yoshida turned and left, closing the office door.

…………

Zhao Gang and his colleagues were also waiting patiently. As the rich aroma of rice emerged from the big pot, the rice was almost cooked.

When the rice was completely cooked, Zhao Gang had someone bring dozens of bowls and chopsticks, and then served the rice to the Japanese pilots.

"Eat, as long as the food is okay, you can leave!" Zhao Gang said.

"This, are you sure it's edible?!" The Japanese captain was stunned. He didn't dare to pick up his chopsticks for a moment, because he was also worried that the rice might be poisoned. After all, he was very clear about the moral character of their troops. They had done countless things worse than animals, and poisoning the food was no big deal at all.

"Stop talking nonsense, eat quickly if you want to go back!" Zhao Gang cursed and then forced the bowl and chopsticks into the hands of the Japanese captain.

"Eat quickly!" Zhao Gang urged with a frown. If it were normal times, he would really treat the other party well, but now it concerns the future safety of the soldiers, he will not have a good face to these devils.

"Okay, I'll eat." The Japanese captain looked as pale as death. He just hoped that the food was not poisonous. Otherwise, his death would be too unfair. He did not die at the hands of the enemy, but at the hands of his own people.

He picked up the rice, put it in his mouth, chewed a few bites, and swallowed it directly.

Seeing this, the other Japanese pilots had no choice but to eat it. If they didn’t, they might not be able to go back today.

"Mr. Zhao, they have eaten, can we proceed with the transaction?!" Colonel Noda walked over at this time.

"Why are you in such a hurry? You just ate it, and the poison may not have taken effect yet. Wait another half an hour." Zhao Gang didn't give Colonel Noda a good look. After seeing those abused soldiers, he would not be polite to Colonel Noda at all.

"Okay, then wait another half an hour." Colonel Noda was so angry that he returned to the team.

Time passed minute by minute. After half an hour, the Japanese captain did not show any signs of poisoning, which made Zhao Gang breathe a sigh of relief.

"Mr. Zhao, half an hour is up. We can do the transaction now." Colonel Noda came almost on time.

"Well, let our people go back." Zhao Gang nodded.

After hearing this, Colonel Noda quickly made a gesture to the Japanese lieutenant colonel, who immediately understood, and soon, more than 300 soldiers were brought over.

"Let them go!" Zhao Gang also gave the order, allowing these Japanese pilots to leave.

"Mr. Zhao, let's say goodbye here. If we go to the battlefield in the future, I will not let you go easily." Colonel Noda said harshly.

"If you say that, I will give the order to shoot and kill you directly!" Zhao Gang said directly.

"No, no, no, I was just joking." Colonel Noda was almost scared to death when he heard this. He was just saying a few harsh words, so why did the other party take it seriously?

"What a coincidence. I was just joking. If we meet on the battlefield in the future, I hope you can live a few more minutes so that I can kill you with my own hands!" Zhao Gang's eyes were cold and there was a murderous aura emanating from his body, which made Colonel Noda shudder.

"Okay, I'll wait for you!" Colonel Noda responded, and then he quickly left with the Japanese pilot.

"What are you holding in your hand?!" Colonel Noda then discovered that the flight captain was holding something in his arms.

"These are Mr. Fujita's ashes." The Japanese captain responded.

"What?! Was he killed by the enemy when he was a prisoner?!" Colonel Noda was shocked and then became furious. He wanted to go back to Zhao Gang to ask for an explanation.

After all, they handed over the prisoners to the other side alive, but the other side actually returned them an urn.

"No, no, Fujita-kun's wound was infected and there's no way to save him. As you know, the Eighth Route Army is short of medicine, so it's normal for him to get infected.
Fortunately, they let us bring the ashes back, which is good, at least Fujita-kun's soul can return to his homeland." The Japanese captain quickly explained.

"That's enough." Colonel Noda calmed down immediately after hearing this. No wonder the Eighth Route Army asked them for a lot of medicines. It seemed that the situation was really difficult!

"By the way, you have been there for quite a long time. Have you discovered any important information? For example, where is their headquarters?!" Colonel Noda began to ask.

"I don't know either. I feel that the place we are going to is not the headquarters, but the brigade headquarters." The Japanese captain replied. Although they could be released from time to time to keep watch, they could not leave the cell too far.

"Brigade headquarters?! The brigade headquarters of the 386th Brigade?!" Colonel Noda asked.

"It should be." The Japanese captain replied.

"Yeah, that's fine too. We can just attack them from the back! Where are they?!" Colonel Noda was very happy. If they could attack them, they would be able to make a great contribution. After all, the New 1st Regiment was a unit of the 386th Brigade.

"I don't know." The Japanese captain shook his head.

"What?! You don't know?! Don't lie to me!" Colonel Noda was surprised, and then he didn't believe it.

"I really don't know. Some of us were brought back with our eyes blindfolded. We were not able to see things until we entered Niugu Mountain. So, I really don't know the location of their brigade headquarters!" The Japanese captain explained.

"Qikexiu, these enemies are so cunning that they actually use this method to prevent us from knowing their exact location!" Colonel Noda was furious. He thought he could know the location of the enemy's brigade headquarters, and then he would have the chance to destroy it directly. He didn't expect that he was overthinking.

"Colonel, should we let the telegraph operator send a telegram to the brigade commander to tell him that the deal has been completed?" The Japanese lieutenant colonel came to Colonel Noda and said.

(End of this chapter)